Ok, not the Oscar, but yesterday, the American Library Association did announce several awards I just have to talk about! Admittedly, we library types get a little over-excited about these awards. But when I heard two of the winners, I simply had to write about them.
First of all, the Caldecott Award. This is awarded each year to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. (It's like Best Actor Award at the Academy Awards.) This year -- drum roll, please -- the award goes to Jon Klassen for his book This is Not My Hat. You may recall I was singing the praises of this great picture book not too very long ago in this very blog! So I guess that means I picked the winner!
And if you missed my praise earlier, I will repeat. This is a GREAT book! Aside from its good moral about how it's wrong to steal, the pictures really, really help tell the story. In fact, the reader who is paying attention will know more about what's going on in the story than the poor little narrator. Well, perhaps the "poor little narrator" doesn't deserve all our sympathy.
It's a great book....great for all ages....and my hat's off to Jon Klassen for being awarded this very prestigious honor!
And the other big award yesterday was the Newbery Award. Now this goes to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. And this year, the Newbery goes to The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. This is one of the most beautiful stories I've ever read. It's told from the point of view of Ivan, a gorilla at a run-down mall circus. He's funny, very smart, and really, really knows the value of true friendship. Full disclosure: this one might make you tear up just a little. But it's ok. You'll come away feeling pretty darn good.
And just so you know, SSJCPL will be buying lots of copies of this great book very soon, so stay tuned!
That's all for today. Happy Reading to you all!
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